New York City reaches $28 million settlement in Rikers Island lawsuit
NEW YORK -- The City of New York will pay more than $28 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by a woman whose grandson was hospitalized after he tried to take his own life while in custody on Rikers Island.
Madeline Feliciano alleges three Rikers Island correction officers and a captain waited nearly eight minutes before helping her grandson, Nicholas Feliciano when he attempted suicide in a jail cell in November 2019. A report by the Correction Department Oversight Board found he was left hanging for seven minutes and 51 seconds.
His grandmother says Nicholas suffered brain damage as a result. He was 18 years old at the time and had been arrested after getting into a fight.
The incident was captured on surveillance video and Nicholas was in plain view of correction officers and others at the time, the report by the Correction Department Oversight Board said.
Three correction officers and a captain were indicted on reckless endangerment and official misconduct charges in 2022. Two of the guards pled guilty to official misconduct. The other cases are pending.
According to a settlement filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the city will pay Madeline Feliciano $28.75 million.
"This settlement will just help Nicholas with his medical condition and therapies for the rest of his life, the damage is already done. Nicholas will never be the same. His future got taken away," Madeline Feliciano said in a statement.
CBS News New York has reached out to the Department of Correction for comment on the settlement.
Madeline Feliciano and lawyers representing her family are also calling for the closure of Rikers Island.
In 2019, the New York City Council passed a plan to shut down the troubled jail complex by 2026 and build four smaller jails in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx, but Mayor Eric Adams has pushed back on the plan, citing public safety concerns and questioning if the borough jails will be able to accommodate the jail population from Rikers.
